Aerosol vs spray gun. Which way to go?

I have been using OHW aerosol paint and it seems to work just fine. But I have been toying with the idea of buying a paint gun and switching to that method. But looking and researching the prices of the 2 I can't really see the benifit. If I buy 12 cans of aerosol from OHW they are $12 a can. That's $144 for 144 oz of paint. And that's is the price for any of their colors they offer. Including the standard clear coats which are usually $18 a can. The quart versions are $42 a quart for standard colors. And up to $55 a quart for "exotic" colors. At the stand paint color cost of $42 a quart that's $168 for 128 oz. so it seems to me you get more paint for less money with the aerosols. Plus you can pick any color. If you bought the "exotic" colors by the quart it would be even more expensive. Plus if you add in the cost of the equipment it takes to be able to use a spray gun your costs go way up. The aerosol is ready to use whenever and doesn't require clean up afterward. So can anyone tell me what's the best way to go? What's the benifit of using a spray gun?

Comments

I believe the weight of the aerosols also include the propellant, so you are not getting the true volume you think you are. Second, when you need to paint a large part, you will want a gun to shoot a wide pattern and coat it with one or two even passes and not use 4 cans to get it done. You will also need a gun to spray activator for larger pieces as aerosol cans of activator will not activate the film evenly, at least not consistently, so you will need the equipment for that. If you are only doing stuff about the size of speed shapes, by all means, keep using the aerosols.

Well I do agree with you on needing the activator gun. It is hard to get a big piece of film activated quickly with the aerosol. But the paint is the issue I'm concerned with. So what your telling me is if I were to be painting say a car hood, I would actually use less paint with a spray gun than an aerosol can? Due to the wide fan coverage of a spray gun I assume.

Well I do agree with you on needing the activator gun. It is hard to get a big piece of film activated quickly with the aerosol. But the paint is the issue I'm concerned with. So what your telling me is if I were to be painting say a car hood, I would actually use less paint with a spray gun than an aerosol can? Due to the wide fan coverage of a spray gun I assume.

Aerosols are sold by weight, not by volume. The propellant is considered in this measurement. It's not filled with 14 fluid ounces of paint. I just painted an engine cover using an aerosol can because it was a weird color of pink that I probably wouldn't need to use again any time soon. It took the whole can to put two coats over the primer. It would have only needed about 3-4 ounces out of my 1.0 tip mini gun I use for small parts.

Volume aside, you will also get a more even finish (less overlapping) with a gun.

I remember looking at this when I first started. Spray can labels are a little misleading..acording to paintscratch.com, a 12oz can has 4-5 oz of paint...I had to learn the entire process when I started dipping so using OHW rattle cans eliminated 1 variable since I was clueless when it came to spray guns...but I was spraying activator out of a gun so I just went ahead a got a few quarts...I don't recommend harbor freight for much but I used therr mini spray gun till it fell apart with good results using ohw....id say give it a try.

Alright I don't know that the labeling was actually misleading to the amount of paint you really get. So now it makes more sense. Which mini gun from harbor freight did you go with? I'm willing to give anything a shot one time. I already have everything else except for a spray gun.

I wouldn't use anything from Harbor Freight. Jim has some ANI mini guns that seem to do very well. His full sized Air Gunsa guns are great, too. If cheap guns worked well, they'd charge as much as guns that actually spray a good pattern. My mini gun came with our tank and it's a Devillbiss SRi Pro. 1.0 tip and sprays very well.

We also sell guns, but our aeros have 4oz of paint mixed with 8oz of propellant, but when combined and sprayed, will only give about 8oz (1/2 pint) of paint - pretty standard. That said, we live aeros, as you can keep a ton of colors in stock for a decent price.

@onehitwonder yea what I think I'm gonna do is get 2 guns. One for paint and one for activator. Then I'll buy the main colors of paint by the quart ( black white and tan) and I'll probably just get the other colors in aerosol as needed.